Scars That Dont Fade
by ShadowSkySong
Summary: Harry and Draco just want to leave school. But they cant... they have nowhere to go.DracoxHarry
1. Prologue

**Scars That Don't Fade **By Cee and Shadow

Chapter one-**Prologue**

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Draco laughed, pulling out another book. He crawled back under the table and sat down next to Harry. "Okay, here's one that sounds fun…Oh wait, this one involves a sacrifice as well."

Harry shut his book on his finger, holding his place, and slid over next to Draco. "What do you have to sacrifice?"

"An entire boar." Draco blinked and then looked slowly over at Harry. At the same time they burst out laughing.

"I don't have a spare one laying around, do you?" Harry asked seriously before taking a swig of his water.

"Not with me." Draco answered smiling.

They had snuck into the forbidden section, in the school library, about two hours ago and, dodging Pince twice now, and still not found anything fun to try out.

Draco put the book he'd been reading back and picked out another. A huge black one that looked like it should have something they would like. He opened it up to somewhere in the middle and looked down the page.

'Highly flammable', he read his eyes widening "Get over here." He said, waving his hand to motion the movement.

Harry gave up on his book and threw it on the floor next to him, sliding over next to Draco under the table. "Got something?" he asked leaning on his arm and squinting in the dark. "Oh, flammable."

"Exactly." Draco said as they both read it.

"Do you think we can work it?" Harry asked pulling out his wand and smirking at the other man.

"Hell yes." Draco said pulling his out too. They looked back at the book and started to recite the spell. They waited a second after and frowned at the book. "I guess we weren't doing it right…"

"Yeah… well… It's an advanced spell, we probably aren't even strong enough." Harry said shutting the book and throwing it off to the side.

"I don't think-" Draco started but was cut off by a large crack. In front of them on the wall their shadows danced in the light. They both crawled quickly out from under the table and onto their feet. Turning around, they saw the flames and, without even a second thought, they both ran for it.

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_We already have 50 pages of this written, so if theres a good response then well get the next chapter up._


	2. Explanation

**Scars That Don't Fade **By Cee and Shadow

Chapter two-**Explanation**

* * *

Draco and Harry walked slowly down a stone hallway, smiling stupidly to themselves. Neither looked at the other, both of them on the verge of bursting into laughter. However, this was not a very good time to do so. This was a serious situation.

Classes were in progress, so Hogwarts was silent except for the sound of Peeves the Poltergeist tormenting someone down another hallway. Draco chuckled as she ran past them, crying loudly, and turned down the stairwell to their left. Harry glanced over at him with an angry frown and punched him lightly on the arm.

The two boys arrived at a rather plain looking wooden door, which contrasted greatly with the elaborate moving paintings on either side of it. A golden name plate reading Professor Sabres – Counselor- was nailed to the top of the doorframe. Beyond the door was nothing any more spectacular. The office itself didn't have anything eye-catching. The only source of light in the room, a small rectangular window, spread light across a small bare desk and chair. In front of which sat two more chairs Harry and Draco had practically made their second home throughout the year so far. The waiting room consisted of two chairs in the hallway.

"Ah, Misters Potter and Malfoy…" The speaker was a rather sickly looking wizard in his mid twenties who looked as if he had barely graduated from wizarding school himself. He spoke very slowly and kindly, giving the impression that he was speaking to a child, or that Harry and Draco were very dim. "I've been expecting you. Please have a seat." He smiled headed to sit behind his deak.

Harry hesitated, crossing his arms and looking at Sabres as if he would do no such thing. Draco, however, was already pulling up a seat.

"Potter, stop being a stupid prat and sit down." He adjusted the collar of his hooded black robe, crossed his arms and looked ahead at the professor before him.

Harry's defiance faltered for a moment and he looked to Draco with a somewhat offended look. He narrowed his eyes slightly and reluctantly sat down in the chair next to the Slytherin.

"Once again," Harry said with a sigh, "You've brought us here under false pretences. Whatever you heard from the other teachers was possibly blown way out of proportion, but, as you can see, we're being blamed for something a lot worse than what we actually did. Like always."

Professor Sabres smiled serenely at him. "What exactly did they blame you for doing, Mr. Potter? You seem to be in one piece. I see your bruises have gone away from you last little trick."

"All we did was set a few books on fire…that's all. Happens all the time in the wizarding world, doesn't it?" Harry said ignoring Sabres remark about last weeks little explosion and Draco's obvious annoyance that he was talking.

"But I was told that the two of you were discovered in the forbidden section of the library. You do know that isn't allowed, don't you?" Sabres reminded them, his hands folded.

"Yeah, what with the 'forbidden' part in the title and everything…" Draco muttered sarcastically. He hated Sabres as much as Potter did, but he was too tired to really care. They'd been in McGonagall's office almost all night talking about punishments and whatnot, and he really did want to just get back to his house and sleep.

"What ever were we thinking." Harry said dully, looking at Draco with a smirk. "In any case…we weren't 'Discovered' there, so to speak. We ran. Like hell."

Draco laughed. "I wish I could have seen the look on Madam Pince's face when she saw her precious books up in flames." He leaned forward in his chair, putting his elbows on his knees and cradling his jaw in his palms. He narrowed his eyes in satisfaction, picturing the old bag chucking more books at the fire as if to put it out, crying her eyes out in a hysterical fit of frustration.

Harry snorted. "And we were eating in there too…That poor woman. Crumbs everywhere." He slouched, finding this entire conversation highly amusing.

Sabres waited for them to finish, still smiling to himself. "Is there anything else?" he asked conversationally.

"Oh, and we stole the food too. Does that count for anything?" Draco said lightly, looking quite proud of himself. It always pissed him off when Sabres just smiled, and for that matter when he didn't get mad.

"No, not really." Sabres said rolling his eyes and looking out the window for a second. He was quiet for a while, waiting to see if they had anything else to add. "Do you have any reason for doing what you did?" Sabres asked tiredly, having asked it so many times before.

Harry and Draco paused for a moment, then smiled. "We were bored." They said in unison, continuing to smile smugly.

Sabres sighed, but smiled at them none the less "As you may already know, your actions merit a punishment. Headmistress McGonnagal tells me that you qualify for detention six days out of the week for the rest of the year. I'm not here to judge you, but…you two are very lucky that you haven't been expelled as of late." He said, still smiling. The combination of this cheesy smile and accusing tone woke Draco up.

"We're 'Lucky'?" Draco said almost in disbelief of what he was hearing. "The great Harry Potter, expelled from Hogwarts? They can't kick us out, and you know it." He shook his head a little and used his right hand to twirl his earring.

"What do you mean?" Sabres inquired, raising his eyebrows a notch.

"The teachers feel sorry for us, didn't you know?" the blonde said, rudely putting his feet up on the desk, though Sabres didn't seem to care much. "After old Voldermort went and kicked the bucket because of Potter-and then our families…" Draco let this sentence trail. He hadn't even flinched when he said the dark lord's name, but a repressed shudder went through the professor.

"I see…You don't care one bit that you're breaking rules just because you think nobody will mind?" Professor Sabre said, looking quite surprised.

"Nope. Can't say we do." Draco said, growing weary of this conversation.

"We want to see how far we can go…y'know, before we get into any real trouble." Harry said.

"But don't you care about your futures at all?" Sabre asked, his voice rising a decibel with every sentence. Draco and Harry knew that of all his patients, they were the two he worried about the most. They just didn't care.

"As far as we're concerned, our futures are none of your business." Draco said quietly, a hint of anger now showing on his face.

"I'm afraid it is my business, Mr. Malfoy. Your well-being is my job." Sabres said curtly, giving them both a serious look. "I just recently had some of your old friends in here. None of them seemed to have nice things to say about you."

Draco looked outraged. "You did what?!" He yelled and jumped up, knocking his chair over. It clattered to the floor loudly and there was an awkward silence between the three of them. On impulse, he had thought of telling his father about this outrageous act against his privacy. Draco gulped and looked down at his feet silently setting his chair back up and sitting back down in it. If he thought about it, they shouldn't be surprised. They should only be surprised that he hadn't done it sooner.

Sabres ignored the outburst, pressing on. "Why is it, that, after six years of heated rivalry between the two of you, that you are now joined to rival the rest of the school?"

At this, both Draco and Harry went silent, looking up at Sabre's eyes with no trace of smugness left on their faces.

He pulled a file out of his desk and began to scan the contents of the pages. "A certain Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley had a few things to say about you, Mr. Potter." Harry narrowed his eyes. "Mrs. Granger looked rather shaken up when I asked them about you. She said that you three had become friends in your first year, that from the first day you had chosen them over Mr. Malfoy. That's quite a long friendship.

"Mr. Weasley described you as a…'Right git.' He said that he and his family had been your family. But ever since the downfall of You-Know-Who…you changed. And you, Mr. Malfoy…your fellow Slytherins insist that you always hated mister Potter…" He sat quietly waiting politely for an answer to his unasked question. How was it that two people who had once been enemies were now spending their days together tormenting the school?

Harry was at a loss of words. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but he couldn't seem to be able to come up with anything to say. He looked over to Draco for some help.

Draco sighed. "Do you really want to know?"

Harry looked like he was searching for an answer as well as trying to figure out what was wrong with Malfoy to make him suggest something. They could easily get out of this.

Sabres started, this wasn't happening was it? He had never gotten anywhere in a session before. Not even a look of regret for something they had done. He would not allow himself to believe they were actually serious. His expression crossed between apprehension and curiosity before he said quietly, "Please." And put his feet up on his desk. Both men who had already taken their feet back down, stared at the bottom of Sabre's shoes. Draco swallowed hard, digusted at the gum that stuck there, then looked away. Harry scratched his chin and looked away as well.

"I don't know if I'll be able to remember a lot of the stuff." Draco muttered quietly. "Some things…I wasn't exactly there for."

"Well you don't need to fucking tell him everything." Harry spat. But they wanted to tell him.

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_Thank you to those who review._


	3. Apathy

_There is so much of this story written, I just need to stop being so lazy and start putting it on. I am working on rereading it all._

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**Scars That Don't Fade **By Cee and Shadow

Chapter Three-**Apathy

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**

The train was late.

From his side someone shouted. Harry looked down the tracks and then over at the person to his side. Ron looked mad about something, but Harry had a feeling that it wasn't the train. Ron didn't exactly care if he was a little bit late to school.

Harry could hear people all around him. The rest of his classmates didn't seem to mind so much either. But he could see as much as hear the worry on their parents faces. "What's going on Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley asked from behind Harry. She had tried to whisper it, to keep her own kids from worrying, but Harry still cringed.

He wasn't sure why it was, but her voice was just so annoying nowadays. He hadn't even stayed with the Weasleys for more then a week. He had spent the entire time wanting nothing more then to be at school already. Be at home. Once he was there, things would be better.

He could remember when Molly's voice had been calming to him, reassuring. She was the closest thing to a mom he would ever have…

"I'm not sure, Molly, but don't worry about it." Arthur said nodding his head and smiling reassuringly.

Harry narrowed his eyes and took a small step sideways, away from the Weasley's and Hermione, who was going nuts with the idea of being late to school. He took the time, something he had too much of all summer, to take a look around. He scanned the huge crowd trying to track down his friends from last year. He smiled at the people who caught his eye, and frowned at the people who didn't notice him. He couldn't help but notice how many students were missing. He assumed that at least half of the Slytherins weren't coming back to school, and it seemed like a majority of his house and the other houses were missing as well. He shook his head slightly and rescanned the area.

He frowned a little as he started to look for the person he looked for every year, and then remembered last year had been her final year at Hogwarts. No more Cho Chang, no more crush to keep his mind even a little bit off all the things he didn't want to think about.

He moved his eyes from family to family, getting a little bit more annoyed with every smiling parent. His eyes passed Neville being threatened by his grandma, and his nerves calmed slightly. Neville was almost in the same boat as he was--almost--except he still had a family; quite a few relatives for that matter.

Harry bit his bottom lip hard until he couldn't stand the pain anymore, then moved his teeth slightly towards his cheek. All he wanted to do was get on that train and get to school; maybe once he got there things would change. To himself he promised to do better this year. Maybe, if he paid attention, his classes would keep his mind off everything going on- like a Cho substitute.

"Oi, Dad! I wonder where the Malfoys are…" Ron bellowed in Harry's ear to Arthur, even though they were right next to each other. Harry bit harder on his lip and looked up again.

Where the bloody hell was that Malfoy prick?

It had said in the paper that he was coming back this year, one of very few. Harry was definitely looking forward to a good old fashion fight with him. Ron, who had shared a bedroom with Harry for the past week, had realized on the second day together not to even so much as disagree with Harry. Everyone was pretending he needed time. But they knew something was wrong.

It wasn't that he wanted to fight… okay he did. But there wasn't really any certain person that he wanted to take it out on.

"That's odd." Harry heard Arthur say from behind him. "I don't really know. The Malfoy's have pretty much kept to themselves since Malfoy was murdered."

Harry felt sick. He remembered how he had felt at hearing this the first time. He had been glad to hear that Draco now, in a small way, new how it felt to loose someone. To not have someone as important as a father in your life. Remembered how long the guilt had stuck in his gut after thinking that.

Harry took a sharp breath and released it.

At the sound of the train coming, he sighed and looked up. But it wasn't the same train. This train was a rusty color and looked rather old. Everything about it seemed less appealing and Harry could just imagine it going down on them.

Everyone scrambled into the cars and Harry found himself sitting with Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Ginny, and her boyfriend-who Harry didn't know in a completely small little compartment. Harry sat back on the seat closing his eyes, hoping to get some rest. His knees touched Luna and Neville's across from him. This year really was going to suck, he could tell already. At least it was his last one. Then what would he do….?

Hermione tried to make conversation with him the first part of the trip, keeping him awake even if he would be able to sleep, but she gave up eventually and took out a large book. He gave up eventually too and got into a conversation with Neville, who hadn't spoken to anyone since he'd got on the train himself. It wasn't the same talking to Neville, because Neville wasn't like his other friends. He didn't like to complain, which was something that Ron and Hermione were basing entire conversations on.

"So how was your summer then?" Harry asked yawning and leaning his head against the wall, trying to block out Ginny, who was in deep conversation with her boyfriend.

He knew it had been him that had broken up with her, but he was slightly disgusted at how fast she was able to find someone to replace him.

"It was okay I guess… You?" Neville asked, getting his mind off of Ginny while he tried to come up with a suitable answer.

"Uh, not that wonderful. Why was yours okay?"

"Well, I mean it wasn't terrible. I got a new broom, I bought it with some of the money I got working at the ministry this summer. That was pretty cool. But then Gran got mad about me always either being at work or out flying, and she took it from me. I can't wait to fly it again." He said pulling one leg up on the seat with him, scrunching his face in discomfort and putting both feet back on the floor.

Harry smiled. He'd forgotten about that. Flying always made him feel better. "Yeah, me either."

"So what was not too wonderful about your summer?" Neville asked trying a different sitting position and giving up again.

"I don't really want to talk about it." Harry said feeling bad. He felt like he needed to tell someone, and he actually considered that person being Neville, but there were too many people here.

He looked over to see Ron with his arm around Hermione and felt like he was going to puke. He'd been wanting them to get together for as long as he could remember, but being in the same room with them together… it was awkward and they didn't seem to notice or care.

"Well if you decide you want to, I'm here." Neville offered fidgeting in his seat a little more.

"Thanks." Harry said closing his eyes again.

"So what was your gran on about earlier?"

"Which time?" Neville asked sounding annoyed.

He glanced at the cover of whatever Luna was reading, or at least what she was using to block her face so they didn't see her listening to their conversation. They didn't care though; it was Luna.

"Before we got on the train, I don't know." Harry said.

"I think you're probably referring to when she told me that she would be sending me my broom. She packs my stuff for me, cause she doesn't trust me anymore, and she just 'accidentally' forgot to pack that." He said with a snort. "That was the only thing that I couldn't block out today."

Harry laughed. "You mastered the art?"

"I wish you knew my gran, you could put her in her place." Neville said excitedly. Harry heard a loud thud and opened his eyes to see Neville on the ground looking twice as annoyed as he sounded. Everyone laughed except for Harry and Luna as Neville pulled himself up onto the seat again.

"This train is not very nice." Luna said slowly patting Neville on the back and smiling kindly. "I really do wonder where the other train is."

Harry closed his eyes again when he saw that Neville was back on the seat, sitting as still as possible. He listened to Luna and Neville's voices, blocking out Hermione and Ron, and somehow--eventually--fell asleep.

* * *

McGonnagal was not exactly a speech person. But that was okay. The new years had already been sorted and sitting at their tables. She smiled as she stood and everyone stopped talking respectfully. "Good Evening and welcome. Please remember that the forest is forbidden territory…" she looked around trying to remember what else to say. "Our dear Filch has updated his list of forbidden objects, if you have any thought of the use of an object… please check that." She paused again. "We have a few new teachers this year, but it seems that all of them are a little late… Before we eat I would like to have a moment of silence. For all of those we've lost and all those hurt in the war." She smiled lightly and bowed her head. Harry shook his head at how quickly she had gone from one thing to another, but bowed his head respectively. After what seemed like forever, Harry was hungry, she lifted her head and said. "Enjoy the feast." Again Harry shook his head.

Harry pilled food on and started shoving it in his mouth. He looked up a few times to glance at the other tables. It really was weird seeing how many people were missing. The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw table didn't seem to be missing too many students but when he turned to look at the Slytherin table his mouth fell open a little. Almost half of them were gone.

He tried not to listen to the conversation going on at the table, which turned out to be easier then he thought, and before he knew it he was finished and standing up to head back to Gryffindor tower.

Promising the other two he was just tired he walked out of the great hall quickly, slowing down the second he was out the doors. Harry yawned to himself hoping that he would be able to fall right asleep when he got in bed. He'd pretty much done nothing but sleep at Remus's house, but the last week hadn't really given him much time for sleep at all.

Just as he turned to go up the stairs, the front doors opened with a bang. He stopped and turned, curious. Puddles formed under the two people, dripping like mad, as they closed the door behind them. One of them, Harry recognized right away, as Hagrid. Harry had been so tired when he'd gotten off the train he hadn't even noticed the absence of the large man. Realizing he hadn't even gotten a letter or sent a letter to the man since mid summer he went back down the step and started to walk to him.

Harry watched Hagrid shake a little, and laughed as the other man was sprayed in more rain water. The man didn't even bother to put his arms up to shield himself from the water, in fact Harry wasn't even sure if the person had noticed. The man, a student, wasn't dressed in his robes yet, but rather in a big black hooded sweatshirt, baggy blue jeans, and a pair of large black boots. The Hood was pulled up over his head, and the man was looking down making it impossible to tell who it was.

"'Arry!" Hagrid yelled happily when he saw him walking towards him. The other man looked up and back down so quickly Harry wasn't able to catch his face. The man looked off to the side still staring at the ground.

Harry shook his head slightly before smiling and saying, "Hey, Hagrid."

Hagrid took two steps forward, stepping right in front of Harry he held out his hand, "How've you been?"

Harry took the hand and shook it, "Been better, you?"

"I 'eard about what wen' on wit ya this sum'er. Glad to be back at school?" he asked taking a step back, smiling, and setting the bags down he was carrying. The other man did the same, slower, as though his bags were many times heavier.

"I guess-sum…did you hear about the train?" Harry began, trying to start a new subject.

"No, wha' happened?" Hagrid asked completely forgetting about the other man, who was now standing a little straighter with both hands in his pockets.

"Came late today, about five minutes." Hagrid looked a little shocked and Harry continued. "It wasn't even the same train that finally did pick us up, it was some old thing that had Flitwick size seats." Harry said, realizing that it probably wasn't the nicest way to explain it. He looked around to make sure no one else had heard it,

The other man made a noise before Hagrid asked, "Did they say wha' happened?"

"Nah, but it'll probably be in the Prophet tomorrow morning." Harry said rubbing his neck. That really had been an uncomfortable ride.

Hagrid smiled and looked around glancing at the other man and motioning at the man to start walking again. "Well we gotta be going, come down and see me sometime, I gotta show you what I found." Hargid smiled.

As the man walked past him, his head came up just a little, and Harry caught his clear grey eyes. Hagrid shooed the man forward quickly and soon they disappeared down the hallway to the dungeons.

Draco.


	4. Pain

**Scars That Don't Fade **By Cee and Shadow 

Chapter Four-**Pain

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**

Draco ate supper in the great hall by himself later, which was fine as far as he was concerned. He wasn't really in the mood to talk to people anyway. He ate slowly, picking through his plate. His arm hurt and he wasn't really hungry anyway.

He let out a sigh as he walked down to the dungeons, not looking forward to the cold. He wanted his warm bed at home.

Things weren't going to be the same anymore, Draco could tell already. His summer had been hell, he'd been brought to school by the half giant, and McGonagall just wasn't as good at her job as Dumbledore. McGonagall hadn't even tried to hide her disgust when he'd walked into her office with the fat jolly giant.

But after she had talked to him a few seconds she started to do what all adults had done since it happened: feel sorry for him. And he hated that. Even fatty had been patient when he had refused to leave his house earlier that day. Which is why they'd been so late.

He sighed and cradled his left arm a little. Once he turned eighteen, he would get his money and maybe leave this country. Why the hell did his father have to be such a hard ass when it came to his money? He should be able to get his inheritance at seventeen just like any other wizard. He wanted to slap himself for thinking it.

He squeezed at his arm, instead, feeling the comforting pain. Concentrating on that, he quickened his steps. The faster he got to the Slytherin house, and fell asleep, the sooner the pain would stop.

When he finally arrived, it was only to realize that he couldn't remember what McGonagall had said the password was. It was a habit of his not to listen to teachers outside of class. He wished they didn't all have such monotone voices, then maybe he wouldn't be in this predicament.

He took a deep breath and sat on the floor with his back against the wall. He could have fallen asleep out there, but just as he was about to a voice spoke in front of him. "Draco, what are you doing out here?"

Draco looked up quickly, trying to stand just as quickly. He winced a little and looked up at Snape, half way from the floor, Snape looked much taller then he actually was, giving him an even more powerful look. "I was just waiting for people to go to sleep." Draco swallowed hoping Snape wouldn't notice his lie. Unfortunately Snape had been nothing but a liar, to both the dark and light side. Each lie nothing but a safety precaution. It was Snape who had won the war for the light side, though the details were untold to anyone- even the 'great Harry Potter'.

Snape arched his brow, and Draco knew he had caught his lie. "How long have you been 'just sitting here'?"

Draco looked down, using his watch as a way to cover his eyes. "Uh, maybe about three minuets." He said looking both directions down the hallway, giving himself time.

"Don't lie to me Draco. How long have I known you?" Severes mumbled. He held out his hand to pull Draco up the rest of the way.

Draco looked back down the hallway, this time hoping someone would come for him, someone who wasn't Snape.

"The child's been here almost and hour Severes." The portrait across from them growled.

Snape didn't even turn around, his face turned to annoyance as he hissed, "Thank you very much…_numb._" Draco frowned, remembering the password as the older man said it.

He followed the man into the common room. Of everyone in the school, he trusted Snape the most, maybe only. After all he had lived with him a good portion of the a year. More then likely he would be dead now if it weren't for Snape.

Maybe that was why it was so hard to talk to him now. Snape had been doing his mother a favor, and his mother had tried to take it back in the end. He bit his lip and tried to concentrate on something else.

"I assume you are tired. You are taking you potions correct?" Draco nodded. "Did you get everything you need?" Snape hadn't had time to take him to do his shopping so he'd ended up going with the half giant.

They almost hadn't had time to gather up everything. He'd literally had to be dragged out of his home, and then he'd refused to get on the train and literally been dragged on that as well. He hoped that Snape had been informed of this.

"Uh, yes sir." Everyone in the house was already in their separate rooms. Draco could tell they weren't all sleeping though. Laughing and giggling came from every room. He ground his teeth together in annoyance and flopped down on a chair.

Snape drifted off towards the stone passage again. "Draco, how many times have I told you, you don't need to be so formal."

Draco looked over his shoulder at the man and smiled halfheartedly. "I know." To him that had been respect, he'd called his father that ever since he could remember. And his father had called his father the same. Respect hadn't been a light subject in his house.

"It reminds me of a damned house elf when you call me that." Snape finished as he walked the rest of the distance to the door. As he stepped out the door he said. "Goodnight Draco."

Draco squinted trying to see the older man as the stone moved back into place. His eyes were starting to get blurry from pure exhaustion. He was contemplating actually taking the medications so he could sleep tonight. The pain and his own thoughts usually kept him tossing and turning all night.

Refusing to go up to his room, he walked over to, and settled into, his favorite couch. His eyes closed right away, but getting to sleep was an entirely different story.

Around midnight he realized that he was still awake. He looked down at the blanket covering his body and turned to watch the small house elf relight the fire that had gone out hours ago. He realized he was shaking slightly and pulled the blanket up higher.

Draco was surprised that the house elves would do that without his asking. He guessed that was because these House elves didn't know him, to them, he was just a student in need. The house elves here didn't know punishment.

It was about two when he finally got to sleep, the rain had finally stopped, and the moon was popping in and out of sight behind the clouds.

* * *

Harry walked in and out of breakfast the next morning. He wasn't hungry, and the little piece of pineapple he did have would tide him over until lunch. Besides he wasn't so into the conversation going on at the table. The Daily Prophet had been informed about the train, but Harry had reason to believe they either hadn't been told the whole story or they weren't telling it. Apparently, on its way to the station, someone, though they didn't know who, had taken down a bridge at the exact second the train had been crossing. It had taken twenty wizards to get the bridge back up and the few workers on board at the time were in Saint Mungos in serious condition.

Some of Voldemorts most extreme supporters, who had yet to be tracked, were still convinced that their master could not die. Until his eventual 'return', however, they could do nothing except seek revenge and avoid being caught. These people have the entire wizarding world after them, including many of the people who had been fighting along side them in the war. Nobody wanted to so much as spark one hair of interest with Snape or the ministry.

As he walked into his first class, sucking on his pineapple, he wondered whoever had done it had known there'd been nobody on the train. He shivered, what if the people in question had attacked his train as well?

He tossed the skin of his pineapple in the garbage and shook his head, taking a seat in the farthest corner from the teachers desk. He was trying out a new class this year, muggle studies. He couldn't wait, finally a class he could get an O in without even studying. Hermione had been so disgusted by the thought, she made sure Ron didn't take the class too, so Harry had no one.

This only made angered Harry. Last year she'd taken the exact same class, and she'd lived in the muggle world as long as he had. He looked around the class, realizing how early he was he pulled out his text book, _The Man Without a Wand, _and flipped through it again. He stuck out a tongue, hoping the teacher was cool so the class wasn't too boring. He pulled out his other book. He'd bought it for himself a week ago, before he went to the Weasleys. Even though he was a slow reader he only had a few pages left. He'd been so engrossed in it Ginny had asked to read it after him and he's accidentally said yes.

He looked at the front cover, his hand tracing over the title, _Fire Us_. Thinking about Ginny made him shiver again, why the hell had he even decided to go out with her in the first place. She not only found a new boyfriend during the summer, but she was pretending nothing had changed. But things had, he felt uncomfortable whenever she was in the room. He could barely talk to her, and of course that's all she wanted to do. 'We're friends again Harry, we should be able to talk.'

He sniffed shoving the book into his face and starting to read again. Harry looked up over the book when he heard someone walk in. The people looked at him, glared in his direction rather, and then took their seats. He almost dropped his book, not able to believe there was a Slytherin in his class.

Soon, it seemed, every other Slytherin had been piled into to the room. His eyes were starting to burn from frustration and he pulled out his schedule to make sure he was in the right room. A few Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw came in, looking at the Slytherins curiously as well.

It was when Harry saw Malfoy walk in that he actually did drop his book. He moved quickly to pick it up, smashing his forehead rather hard on the desk as he did so. He put his hand on it hissing some audible swearwords, and grabbed the book. He threw it on the desk, annoyed with it, and looked up at the staring class. He opened and closed his eyes until he could see strait and then smiled, trying to make the class look back at the front of the classroom. Where the hell was the teacher?

Harry took a deep breath and grabbed for his book, dropping it again as someone spoke next to him. "I'm not sharing a seat with someone Potter, that's the only reason I'm sitting here." Harry caught his book before it fell to the ground and then looked over at Malfoy.

Harry looked around realizing that this literally was a full class. "What the hell is going on?" Harry asked as the people started to look back to the front of the class one at a time.

"What are you talking about, Potter?" Draco growled, still not looking over at Harry.

"I mean why does it seem that your entire house is taking this class?" Harry asked started to get annoyed himself.

Draco looked over at him sneering, "Ministry orders." Harry motioned for Draco to continue. "You didn't know Potter?"

"Just tell me what the hell is going on Malfoy, I don't have the patience for you today."

Draco looked at Harry with such an annoyed and angry looked that Harry drew back a little. "Ministry order says that every mans child found in the same bearings as the late Dark Lord is to take muggle studies. Something about it teaching us that we're all the same inside." He said the last part in a mock girly tone.

Draco's face went blank and he blinked, to emphasis how stupid it sounded, before looked back at the font of the class. The teacher walked in, wearing jeans and a Know Thy Self t-shirt, giving Harry no time to think about anything as she went to the chalkboard and started writing down the projects they'd have this year. Only a few of them were partner projects, which was good for him. He didn't have anyone in the class and would more then likely get stuck with some stupid Slytherin.

The teacher herself was the nicest he'd ever had. She was new that year, taking over for Professor Jansen who had given birth over the summer and wanted to stay home with her new 'bundle of joy', as she had been quoted saying.

She had her long strait black hair in a ponytail at the top of her head and a pair of sunglasses up on top of her head. She didn't say anything as she wrote. When she was finished she wiped the chalk off her hands and turned to the class smiling. "My name is Randi Theis, you can call me Randi, Mrs. Theis, Professor Theis. Any combination of those. I went here when I was your age, I was a Slytherin, and I guess that's the only reason I was hired considering I only just graduated three years ago. If there are any Slytherins out there who are thinking that they don't know who I am, there's a good reason for that. I live in the states, California, and flew down every year to get on the train. I pretty much kept to myself, yes my dear other houses, that's possible. I graduated with one friend, a Slytherin boy my age, my fiancée, and O's in almost every class.

"I was in the middle of getting my teaching license when Minerva owled me." She took a clipboard and went from person to person, pointing her wand at them and then at the paper. She would turn the board around and motion for them to nod if it was their name that showed up at the bottom.

"I personally think that the new ministry order is a good idea, but I think that every student should have to take the class, no matter who your family is." She pulled a pen from her bag and scribbled something on the clipboard under someone's name. Harry put his finger in his book to mark his page and listened intently as she started up again. "Then again my family never had the threat of Voldemort hanging over their head..." Most of the students in the room went ridged at the name. She stopped in front of Draco and turned the picture around. In the picture Draco was actually seriously smiling. Draco looked down and nodded. "You are going to have some major advantages in this class then in the previous muggle studies classes…" She said turning the clipboard in front of Harry who nodded at the sight of his name. Before she turned the picture back around, he noticed the smiling Draco again. This time he noticed the hand on the blonds shoulder.

He wondered for a second who that was, but then Professor Theis spoke again as she strolled back to the front of the class. "The reason you'll have this advantage is counted by two things. Firstly, even though both of my parents are unbearable when it came to wizards over muggles, they didn't actually have anything against them. It's the same as rich and poor, they didn't hate them they just thought they were better. All my friends were muggles and our house was pretty full of muggle things, phones and such, so I could keep my friends entertained when they came over." She paused for a second looking around at the class and then said, "The other reason is because, as a Slytherin should be, I'm rather rich." She said smiling.

Some of the class laughed a little and she pulled her bag closer to her again. "First things first." She said pulling out a plastic bag and looked down at the clipboard. "Uh Zabini and um… Asher and Livingston please help me pass these out, one for each, thank you." She waited until they were on opposite sides of the room digging in the bag before she said. "This is a little present from me to you. It's a note book, a pack of pencils and an eraser. The little pink things are erasers and the paper is a notebook. How many of you have used these." Harry and another girl raised their hands. "Its quite easy isn't it." It was rhetorical but Harry and the Ravenclaw nodded anyway.

"Also along with the study I was thinking of having my fiancée send me some things to bring in daily, just to introduce you to some muggle things slowly. I don't want to overwhelm anyone on the first day, but we'll start with my outfit" She was joking, but only Harry seemed to get it. She did a head banging motion and the sunglasses fell to her nose, covering her eyes. She pointed to her toes and slowly moved her finger upwards. "As you can see she said reaching her knees and continuing up. "Muggles wear almost the exact same things as we do," She stopped at her shoulder and finished her sentence. "And without out that added weight of robes we can do this much easier." And she did a little dance. This time there were only a few Slytherins that didn't laugh, Draco being one of them.

Harry shrugged that off and pushed his book to the side of the desk. When she finished she started up again motioning to the sunglasses she said, "Then there are these lovelies. Come in mighty handy where I come from. Anybody know what they're called?"

Harry and the girl raised their hands, but the girl seemed unsure of herself, looking both ways and not seeing anyone else raising her hands she put it back down. Professor Theis's eyes fell on Harry and she looked at her clipboard, "Yes, Mr. Potter." She asked looking back up amused.

"Sunglasses." He said with a nod.

"Correct, at home I need them because it's almost always sunny there, unlike here. They block the sun so I can look up at it and not go temporarily blind. Catch Potter!" she laughed, throwing it to the back of the room. Harry caught it and looked up at her for instruction. "Try 'em on check 'em out and then pass them around. And while those are being passed around flip your books to page 3, introduction to the wandless man. For this class I'm going to show how the muggles take notes… quite a shock when I got to college and the teachers just started to talk." She laughed.


	5. Panic

_Thanks to _fifespice Potter's Wifey Majestically Mystical Pika Rae-Rae, iLUVfire, silver-roses15, Devan.Snape_, and_ I love harry potter and hsm.

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**Scars That Don't Fade** By Cee and Shadow

Chapter five-**Panic**

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Draco's day was slow and painful. His classes were boring and his arm hurt. Most of his teachers were new and he had gotten way to much homework. 

He slept easier that night, taking most of his potions and going to sleep during supper, when the other Slytherins weren't there yelling in his ear. He only woke up once when one of the guys threw their shoe at him 'accidentally'. Actually, he guessed it probably was accidental; they were down to three in his room, himself, Zabini and Greg included, he doubted either of them would purposely hurt him. They'd all been 'friends' since the first day of school, they were both hilarious and usually fun to be around. The words he had exchanged with them this year had been jokes that he just couldn't understand. They just weren't funny anymore.

Even though he hadn't told them what had happened, they kept asking him if he was okay. It hurt most when they asked how his family was. They knew something was wrong, and that he would never actually tell them, but they were just used to listening to all his 'problems'.

He'd had a major nightmare, the same one he'd been having since that night. It was worse, however, because his mind was so used to it that instead of waking up from it just rewound and played again. He'd gone to bed so early he was up before the sun the next morning. With his homework done and breakfast not being served yet, not that he was hungry, he decided he would go visit an old friend.

He had to call a few times before she finally came flying out of the toilet, with a big splash. She giggled loudly and flew up to him, attempting a shatteringly cold hug. "Draco, how are you?" She screeched excitedly.

"Myrtle," he shuddered before he said, "I'm okay, you?"

"Not much to talk about when your-"

"Dead yeah I know." Draco finished.

She smiled again. "Now don't you lie to me, really…How are you?" She said floating up to sit on the sinks, watching him slide slowly down the wall to the floor.

Draco put his left arm in his lap and looked up at her. "I don't know if I want to talk about it." He said feeling the cold stone under him.

"You don't have to talk about anything you don't want to, besides you know I'll be here when you're ready to talk about it." She smiled readjusting her glasses. He always thought it was funny that ghosts were able to do things like that. Play with their hair, adjust their cloths-but other people were able to walk right through these things.

Draco nodded and then asked, "Have you seen the new transfiguration teacher? I don't have her but I saw her in passing. She has the weirdest hair I think I've ever seen."

Myrtle threw her head back laughing. "No I haven't seen her, I saw the new Muggle studies teacher though. She seems a little too young to be teaching."

"She went to our school only a few years ago… obviously she never used your bathroom." Draco said laying his head against the wall and looking up and the leaky ceiling.

"I don't think so, but she did look rather familiar." Myrtle smiled again, "Draco… I'm glad things are better for you this year." She said softly.

"They aren't, really." He admitted.

She sighed, "Well then I guess I mean, I'm glad you didn't end up having to kill Dumbledore, and I'm glad your father didn't make you get the dark mark, and I'm glad, I'm glad that you aren't in the same predicament as me." She finished with a small smile again.

Draco thought about that for a while, wondering if he was glad for those things too. "I never got to tell you thanks for keeping the Dumbledore thing a secret, and everything else a secret."

"Who am I gonna tell?"

"You could have told anyone." He opened his eyes again looking up at her.

"I know, but I told you you could trust me, you just didn't believe me until worst came to worst. I have no loyalty to anyone and anything in this school, well, except for you." She said calmly floating down to hover next to him. She put her hand on his left arm and he felt it soothe the pain in his arm as the cold seeped through his robes. He leaned his head back against the stone again closing his eyes as Myrtle said. "I predict that this year is going to be different for you, better. I bet you you'll have fun." She reassured him looking up at the ceiling as well.

"I hope so, because as far as I can tell, this year already sucks." He thought about it a little more as the room went quiet. Maybe Myrtle was right, but in order for that to happen he was going to have to try a little harder. He needed to break away from all his old routines. He didn't have anyone telling him what was right and wrong anymore. He could do whatever he wanted. Try new things, things that he wouldn't have ever done before.

"Well aren't you at least looking forward to Quiddich?" she asked softly.

Draco shook his head his eyes still closed "I can't be in Quiddich this year."

Draco felt Myrtles hand move from his arm to his hand for a second and then back again, and new that she had just turned to look at him. "Why not?" She asked a little louder then the soft voice she'd been using earlier.

Draco lifted his arm a little, making her move her own and lifted up his sleeve to show her his wrappings on his arm, his entire arm from his wrist to his bicep, and heard her gasp. He opened his left eye to glance over at her as she stared him down. "Did you do this to yourself- who did this to you?" Draco pulled his sweatshirt back down quickly and looked away, hoping that she wouldn't make him answer. "Draco did you do this or…did someone else?"

He didn't answer right away, but then he realized what she was asking. "Someone else," he assured her. Last year they had talked about suicide and death, and stuff like that, a good five hours in the prefect bathroom. If he wasn't going to tell her who did it he should let her know he hadn't been trying to kill himself…

He heard her sigh of relief and bit his lip. She was concerned about him, he knew that, but he hadn't even told the ministry what had really happened. Nobody knew except himself and his mother. He took a deep breath and asked, "Do you think you could put your hand back on it, it makes it feel better." He asked quietly. He rolled his head back to look at her as she continued to stare at him. "Stop looking at me like that."

She put her hand back saying, "You better tell someone, soon, or it will just sit there until you explode. I told you, you need to stop doing that. If you can't trust me, then you should tell someone. Maybe say it out loud to an empty room."

"You told me this last year."

"And have you listened to me yet?" she asked shifting her hand up his arm and back down at intervals as if to cool each part.

"I will, I just don't think I can talk about it right now."

"What about the things you couldn't talk about last year can you talk about them now?"

"Maybe…" he paused trying to remember things from last year that he hadn't told her. "I can't think of anything." He said slowly.

"That's because you finally broke down and told me almost everything that one night. I meant have you told your real friends about those things?"

Draco opened his eyes and looked over at her, feeling horrible. "What do you mean my real friends?" She didn't answer but her mouth opened and closed. He blinked and quietly said, "Myrtle, you're my only friend…" the 'younger' girl, younger in life older in death, looked away. "The reason I don't tell you things isn't because I would rather tell my other friends, it's because I don't want to talk about it."

She nodded her head and Draco saw a tear fall down her cheek. Draco had heard the girl being called Moaning Myrtle before, and had always heard about her constant crying. But this was the first time he had ever seen the girl cry, and it was so quiet that if he wouldn't have been looking over at her, he wouldn't have known. Three years ago he wouldn't have believed that ghosts were capable of crying, but he realized now how many emotions ghosts could still feel. "I'm Sorry." He said knowing he couldn't do anything.

She shook her head, "Don't worry about it. When you're ready to tell me, I know you will." She said.

She changed the subject rather easily back to teachers, telling him what the ones who lived at the castle had done during the summer, all the juicy details. It was enough conversation to hold them over until breakfast and still Draco was one of the first people there-the first Slytherin.

He sat at his table alone for a second before he felt someone standing behind him, the shadow falling on the table in front of him. Without even turning around he rolled his eyes and put his forehead in his hands asking, "Can I help you?"

"Yes Mr. Malfoy, we're trying something else new this year." McGonagall's voice said behind him.

He turned around slowly and looked up at her. "What's that ma'am?" he was polite to her, just like he always was, to anyone. Even the people he hated. Potter and his little friends not included.

"A little House mix up." Draco's eyes widened. This was not going to be good. "Please stand up." Draco did as he was told and noticed the others in the room doing the same. With a flick of her wand she was satisfied and walked back up to the head table again. Draco looked from one table to the other. Two tables… the people who had been there earlier sat at one table and Draco sat by himself again at the other.

From the head table the headmistress flicked her wand again and a few couches and chairs sat in the empty area between the two tables. Okay he knew there were a lot less people in his house this year but that didn't mean they had to change everything for them, first making them take muggle studies and now this. What next… now more houses at all? He would not be able to live in the same house as a Hufflepuff… He shivered, and put some food on his plate.

As people started to slowly walk in, every single one of them sat at the table across from him. Maybe it was because they didn't want to walk the extra length to get to his table, or maybe they just saw him sitting there and didn't want to sit next to him, he wasn't quite sure. Only one girl had the courage to sit at his table, and she had actually sat only a few feet down from him on the opposite side. It wasn't until the other table was filled that people started filling in the area next to him.

None of the few Slytherins had woken up yet, and the people coming to the second table were sitting on the opposite side of him and the girl. As the people that had been in the great hall before him started to leave, he felt suddenly nervous. He thought about taking some food and heading back to the bathroom, but it was so far away from his next class, potions, that he wasn't sure he'd make it back in time. He took a small bite and looked down at the girl again. She noticed him looking and said kindly, "Good morning Draco."

Draco frowned, "I don't think I know who you are." He said sounding annoyed but not meaning for it to sound that way.

"Well we've never met so I wouldn't think so…" she said picking a magazine up from the table and reading it as if they weren't having the conversation.

After a second Draco asked, actually annoyed this time. "Well then what is your name?"

The younger girl looked up and blushed, "Luna… Luna Lovegood." She answered.

"Well, Luna, what are you doing sitting next to me then?"

She hesitated, looking confused at the question. "Well, you were sitting by yourself."

"So?" Draco asked giving her a look to continue.

"Well, who's going to pass you the butter?" She asked dumbly as if he had asked the stupidest question.

He realized his mouth was open, unable to believe they would let a crazy person in school. He thought about it for a second, glancing around he said, "I-I guess that makes sense."

"Luna, what are you doing?" Draco heard from above him. He looked up slowly, glaring as Harry sat down directly in front of him on the other side of the Luna girl.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? The man needs his butter." She said slowly, as both herself and Draco watched Harry pile food on his plate.

Harry nodded shoving some food in his mouth he said, mouth full, "I guess that makes sense." Draco had to look away at the bad habit. "So what did you do this summer?" For one fleeting second Draco thought that Harry was talking to him. Turning his head back he saw the boy facing the girl.

"Oh I worked at my father's, I got a few of my story ideas in his magazines and next year he says that I'll get to actually start writing for them." She said as excitedly as was possible for her.

"Wow sounds like you had a good summer."

"Yes, quite pleasant, I don't know if you caught this months edition of my fathers magazine but there was quite a nice article about Quidditch. I told father that it would bring in more people if we talked about all different kinds of things. There's also quite a nice little thing about my brother, I never told you about him, but I think you would have liked him, he was a very big fan of yours." She popped her gum. "The Quidditch thing I mean." Draco turned back away and looked down at his plate.

Harry, who hadn't gotten her hints said, "Maybe I'll meet him some day."

Luna laughed at the annoyed look Draco shot Harry, and then said with a smile, "I don't think that's going to happen, if you're lucky." She said as Harry chewed his food loudly.

"I thought you just said-"

Draco cut him off, "Jeez Potter, how inconsiderate can you be to your girlfriend. Her brother's dead." Draco shot in a venomous tone.

Harry stopped chewing and looked over at Luna apologetically, "I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault, he was dealing with his MS before we were even born." She smiled. Neither Draco nor Harry knew what that was, but they both frowned and went back to their breakfast. After a few seconds Luna asked, "So what'd you do this summer Harry?"

Harry pretended not to have heard her, and looked up at Draco, chewing loudly with his mouth open. "You know Potter…that is a disgusting habit. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't do that in my presence." Draco glared at Harry, hoping that would be enough to keep the boy from retaliating.

Harry shoved more food in his mouth, and chewed a little with his mouth closed. Draco got halfway into his smirk but it fell back into a glare as Harry opened his mouth up and held out his tongue.

"That is so sick Potter, no wonder you're still single." Draco growled turning back to his food, and picking at the plate.

The air was silent for a second, but again Luna was the one to break it, "So then how was your summer Draco?" she asked slowly.

He turned to her slowly, "I don't think that's any of your business, besides, Potter didn't answer."

"He hasn't answered me since the first day I met him." She said calmly, and Harry looked away, his face turning slightly red.

"I don't even know you." Draco said loudly. Where did this girl get off talking to him, a Slytherin?

"She was just being polite." Harry said trying to keep calm but not actually look at Draco.

Draco seriously would have jumped the bloody git then and there, but he knew that if he started anything somehow his arm was going to get dragged into it. The damned thing was in enough pain. He opted for words, "So then what _did _you do this summer Potter?" he sneered, his arm throbbing dully at the bad choice of words.

"Don't start Malfoy." Harry said still not looking up while he shoveled a spoonful into his mouth. "I just want to finish eating and get to class."

"Tell me, who did you kill this summer, any of the Weasey's dead yet?" Draco said looking up at the ceiling nonchalantly. Harry threw his fork down and stood up quickly.

Luna put one hand out to each of them and said, "You two better stop, McGonagall's looking this way already."

Draco looked up to the head table, but Harry wasn't about to let Draco win this conversation. "What about you Malfoy, how many people did you kill this summer, runs in the blood doesn't it?" Draco, temporally forgetting about his arm, pushed off the table with both hands, flinching at not only the pain but at the crash of the bench as it fell to the ground-him being the only person on it.

"Harry," Luna said calmly, "Draco, why don't you two go handle this outside? I don't really think this is the time-" she said standing up slowly.

"You girlfriends sticking up for you Potter, isn't that sweet?"

"I think she was sticking up for you as well Malfoy, and so what if I have a friend, is that something against the Malfoy name as well?" Harry retorted like a little boy.

"Okay now you two are just being stupid. What kind of comebacks are these?" Luna mumbled laughing as Draco gritted his teeth, seriously considering pulling his wand out.

His arm tingled warning him to calm down. "I have more friends then you Potter, and they aren't some stupid muggle loving freak or your little mudblo-"

"Potter, Malfoy, stop that now." Came McGonagall's voice as she closed the last few steps between her and Draco.

Luna spoke before either man could defend themselves, "Minevera, you really should let them finish this."

The older teacher looked taken aback, "Lovegood, I told you, it is improper to talk to your professors like that."

"But they're your names." Luna said signaling for Harry to go.

"Yes, but you shouldn't call them that." She said as Harry backed up slowly, Draco following suit. "I told you last time not to do it again,-Malfoy-Potter-hold on, Lovegood meet me in my office after breakfast." McGonagall said, walking down the rest of the aisle and signaling for the two men to follow.

"It's not even been a week yet and you two are already getting in trouble. Actually, now that I think about it, you two really aren't in trouble all that often, but that's okay, you'll do." They walked out of the great hall and down a deserted hall. It was the hall to the kitchen, she wasn't going to make them wash dishes or something, was she?

"I don't know what you were thinking, either of you, that's something that always bothered me about my students. They didn't trust me. I'd been asking Dumbledore for as long as I can remember, but he just wouldn't consider the idea." She started as the younger men followed a good distance from her, and eachother. "He promised me that I could do it when I took over for him…" she paused and then said in a cracked voice, "And you two are his first patients."

Draco and Harry looked at each other angrily, "Look what you did." They both hissed at the same time, and stopped, glaring at each other.

"Help, Sabres, BOYS STOP!" Minerva screamed as Draco sent a curse flying at Harry. Harry just barely dodged it, hitting Draco hard on the shoulder. Draco screamed and fell to the floor. A man walked out of the room and ran to the younger man on the floor, kneeling down to ask if he was okay.

Draco backed up quickly, still breathing hard from the pain. Harry cocked his head to the side and said, "Stop faking it Malfoy."

Draco fell back from his knees to his arse and sat up against the wall, closing his eyes. He knew it had opened, but he didn't want Potter to win. He opened his eyes and used the wall to slide back up onto his feet. "Who are you?" Draco said, sneering at the older man. He pretended nothing had even happened, hoping that would stop any more attacks at him. Maybe if he played good boy whoever the guy was would let him go the hospital wing once Potter was out of earshot.

"My name is Elliot Sabres." He said in a slow, calm, voice. He smiled happily and put out his hand for Draco to shake. Not one to be impolite, Draco took it and shook it, thankful he was right handed. Elliot offered the same hand to Harry, who also took it, though more cautiously, and shook it as well.

"Sabre's is the new counselor here." Minerva said sounding quite happy about this. She walked quickly over to the door and opened it for everyone to walk in. She smiled walking in as well. The men all took a seat at the desk, the younger two still glaring at each other. Elliot stared at the old lady with a look of confusion before he said, "Professor, I'm sorry but you aren't aloud to be in the room when I'm talking to any of the students."

Minerva's face fell and she looked at her students sadly like they would say something to allow her to stay. When neither of them spoke she stood up from her chair and walked loudly out the door. Elliot shook his head and turned to the students. "Why exactly is it that you are here anyway?" He asked with a huge smile. Harry gritted his teeth, he seriously had a bad feeling about this guy, and he'd said nothing, and done nothing but nice things so far.

"We didn't do anything…" Draco said quickly, laying his arm on his lap and biting his lip a little, he stopped to say, "Can we go now?" Resituating himself on the chair, he started rocking lightly-barely noticeable.

Elliot laughed. "Not quite Mr…"

"Malfoy- and that's Potter-"

He pulled his arm further down, over his hand. Feeling warm blood slowly dribbling its way down his arm- glad that the robes were black. He wrapped his legs around the legs of his chair and stared at his knees.

"I think we should start with introductions." Elliot began, "I believe I already told you who I am-"

"And Malfoy told you who we are." Harry said cutting the man off. He just wanted this all to be over and get the heck out of there.

"I was thinking maybe first names. I am a little bit different from other adults in the school. I think that if you talk to students like you are their equals, first name bases, that way you won't think of me as a teacher, but your friends." He said waving his hands excitedly.

Draco glanced down at his arm and jumped a little at the little spot of crimson seeping through his robe. As both of the other men looked his way, he covered it up quickly. And looked at them like he didn't know why. "What?"

Sabres laughed at his students.

"Can we so this another time?" Draco asked. He felt like his arm was going to fall off. It was a wonder neither Potter nor the lunatic in front of him had not seen the blood. He could sure as hell feel it.

Sabres tutted but after a second nodded his head, "If you can tell me one thing about yourself and one thing about Mr. Potter that I don't already know, and Mr. Potter one thing about Malfoy, then you can both leave."

Draco bit his lip a little harder trying to think of something quick. "Uh, I like Quiddich and he hates carrots." Draco said standing up and pushing his chair to the side to walk to the door.

"Is that true Mr. Potter?"

"Uh, yeah, I hate them." Harry lied standing up too. "And he hates me."

Draco nodded and opened the door, taking one step out before he heard Sabres shout, "Stop! That doesn't count." Draco, fuming, turned around and, seeing that Harry was only a step behind, whispered, "I hate carrots."

Harry turned quickly and repeated Draco's words. Malfoy nodded and in content, Sabres finally let them leave. As they both hurried down the hall as fast as they could, Harry tried to think of something to say. He wanted to say something. Maybe something about how bogus that had been, maybe even ask him how he could not like carrots. When he finally opened his mouth and looked over it was only to see Malfoy turning up the stairs to the hospital wing.

"Where are you going Malfoy?" Harry asked stopping at the bottom and looking up at the Slytherin as he hurried up the stairs.

Draco stopped for only a second, to consider Harry's question and then continued up the stairs. When he reached the last step he said over his shoulder, "What do you care," before turning the corner and walking out of sight.

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	6. Prevention

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**Scars That Don't Fade** By Cee and Shadow

Chapter six **Prevention**

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"I thought we all agreed that you were going to control your fighting. Don't you want this to heal?" Pompy asked shuffling around the room. She hated having to exercise muggle tactics.

She stuck him with a needle, "This will just make your arm feel a little light, a little numb." She added as Draco looked away.

"Listen," she said stopping everything she was doing and turning around with her hands on her hips. She disgusted as she said, "I promise not to tell Professor Snape about any of this- under one condition." When all Draco did was stare at her blankly, she sighed and added. "You need to start taking all your medications… I am a healer you know, what-did you think I wouldn't notice? Your arm would already be mostly healed if you would just do what your healer and I are telling you."

His own healer didn't know anything about muggle healing. Draco slid off the bed and mumbled, "Sure, sure. Can I go now?" He hated needles.

"Malfoy?" She said excitedly. She sounded like she wanted to hit him, but just said. "Please, or I'm going to make arrangement for you to be moved down here so I can make sure you take them."

Anger rose in him, but he kept as calm as he could as he said. "It's just the one, I can do without that one."

"We wouldn't make you take one you didn't need."

Instead of starting something, Draco just turned-shaking his head- and walked out the doors. It wasn't like he was going to listen anyway. He would take the other stuff, but that one, it made him… He pretty much went crazy when he took it. He wasn't about to make a fool out of himself.

He was seriously hungry, but he really didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment. Not that anyone did talk to him. Now that he thought about it, maybe it was not being talked to that he wanted to avoid. Yet still he had tried to run past the Great Hall all the same.

"Draco." He heard Snape say quietly behind him.

He turned around slowly. He was beginning to think that Snape always followed him, that he knew his every move. There was no way he had found time already to talk to Pompey. "What did we talk about, getting into a fight already? You haven't even been at school for a week." He started, looking annoyed. As he walked the last few steps to stand in front of him however, his face turned from a scowl to a frown. "New dressings I see?"

Maybe he hadn't heard about that part yet. "Uh, yea-I-"

"Serveres, I'm glad I found you, I had a question about a- a something you said in class today." Lovegood, at his shoulder, said.

Without even turning around, Snape rolled his eyes and turned slowly. "Lovegood, how many times do I have to tell you, do not call teachers by their first name." He growled as she motioned for Draco to run for it. Normally he wouldn't take help from freaks, but he was willing to make this exception. He hadn't even had time to make up an excuse or anything.

He slipped hastily behind a column, almost colliding with another person hiding there.

Harry held his finger to his lips and pressed his back against the stone. Draco peeked around the rounded edge just in time to see Severes turning on him-where he should have been. Luna smiled at him for a second, but when Severes looked back at her she looked away quickly and started smiling at the professor. "So Sevi," she said, "What about that make-up?"

Draco and Harry watched Snape's face turn a lighter shade of red and he pointed at the dungeons. "How about a detention instead?"

She kept smiling, "In exchange for the make-up? That sounds peachy." She said in a voice much unlike her own. She flipped her hair and started skipping to the dungeons. Snape, looking like he wanted to hex her, followed after her.

As soon as he knew the professor was out of sight, Harry broke out laughing. Draco, who didn't find anything funny, asked, "What the hell's so funny Potter?"

"She always did have a thing for Snape."

"Okay, now that I've just puked in my mouth, I'm going to go. Tell your stupid friend to stop helping me. I'm not going to fuck her." He knew the second he turned his back that he shouldn't have said that. He heard Potter take a step towards him and stopped, tensing his back, and turning around quickly.

He didn't even say anything, he just stood there. A smile spread across his face. "I think you should tell her, I don't really…have enough time. I think she would think it's pretty funny." He said taking a step backwards.

Draco stood there befuddled. Something was seriously weird with Potter this year. First he was sitting next to him in classes and during meals, talking to him. "Uh, okay…" He sat there for a few seconds in silence.

"Bye…" Harry said, taking a step backwards before turning and walking towards the stairs.

"What the hell was that?" Draco asked himself quietly once Harry was out of ear shot.

He hadn't been in his dormitory more then a few seconds when he'd suddenly remembered something he's forgotten. His owl. He felt so ashamed of himself he'd literally run out the hole.

He hoped that most of the students and the teachers had all finished dinner. He didn't want another run in with Severes, or Potter. Fortunately, he was able to make it all the way up to the top of the tower without a problem. Unfortunately however, he found that he was not able to avoid Potter after all.

He stood on the window sill, staring out at the grounds, unaware that there was anyone else in the room.

Draco stared. Taking a step forward in the direction of both the window and his owl he asked quietly, trying not to jump to conclusions he growled, "What are you doing, Potter?"

Draco was glad he's taken that step closer. Any further away and there was no way he would have been able to do anything. Potter screamed, and in one swift movement Draco grabbed his foot. Draco flew forward, but was able to keep his balance. He heard Potter body as it hit the stone on the wall of the castle outside. Potter screamed again, this time in pain rather then fright.

As soon as he knew Potter was done falling he let got of the wall anchoring him and grabbed the ankle with both hands. He pulled as hard as he could.

"Let go." He heard from below. It was quiet and it sounded kind of muffled.

"What?" Draco screamed back. What was he talking about.

"This way we both win. I get -- finished, and you get your Slyth---ns back." A few words cut out on the way up, but he understood. Potter was here to do this anyway.

"Are you kidding me?" Draco said pulling as hard ad he could, he resituated his hand on Harry's ankle and tugged again. "Why the hell—are you holding on?" he screamed, angry now.

"Let go." Harry screamed in answer.

Draco couldn't believe it. He was not about to have a death on his hands. He knew that if anything happed to Potter now, it was going to be all on him. "You Bloody—let go."

"You." He said stubbornly. Draco wasn't about to take this. If he didn't do something now his arms were going to give out, and he would be going to prison. That was not what he wanted right now. If he thought life was slow now…

Carefully he let go of Potters ankle with one of his hands, using his bad arm to take his wand quickly out. Just as quickly he sent the spell down at Potter and threw his wand onto the floor behind him. He grabbed the ankle with both hands again and listened for the sign to pull. He heard the choking and gagging a second later and pulled as hard as he could, knowing that Potter was going to be to distracted to do anything about it.

He pulled him through the window as fast as he could, painfully slow, and pushed him as far away from the window as possible. "Bloody Hell, what the fuck were you-" He hissed as his arm suddenly swelled with pain, burning. He'd mostly forgotten about it until then, and now he was beginning to regret helping at all. Especially when it started to sting. "Shit." He screamed before taking a deep breath and shaking out his other arm. It seemed to help the pain go down, just by calming himself a little. He stretched out his arm a little, biting his lip, before he finally turned back on Harry.

"What the H-" but once again he was stopped in mid sentence at what was happening. Potter sat in the corner, his hands over his face, his entire body shaking. He didn't even seem to care that he was crying in front of a Malfoy. Draco wasn't even sure if he was crying, maybe he was laughing. "What were you thinking?"

Harry looked up slowly. His chin was bleeding pretty bad, it looked like it might have gotten scrapped against the brick outside. Either way, it looked painful, and Draco winced a little. Harry hadn't been crying after all-Draco noticed next as he stood there wondering what to do next. Harry pulled his sleeve down over his hand and wiped his chin off with it, wincing a little bit at the roughness of the material.

Draco had no clue what to say. All he wanted to do was run out the door and back to his dormitory. He knew now, that there was no way he was going to sleep without a potion. He looked over Potters shoulder trying to force himself to move. He notices Misty, his owl, looking at him curiously- and remembered why he's come up here in the first place. He still didn't move.

Looking down he found Potter still in the exact same spot, staring blankly at the ground. "Madame Pomphry…" He mumbled as if he was calling her. He shivered at the sound of his own voice.

Finally, he was able to take a step forward. He continued to stare down at Potter, who still hadn't taken his eyes off the ground. He took another step forward. Potter wiped his chin again, leaving his sleeve there to slow the bleeding.

Draco walked the few steps between them and grabbed Potter under the arm, pulling him onto his feet. He tried a little to escape, but after that much adrenaline leaves your body you aren't exactly ready to go out and play a Quidditch match-or fight off someone who doesn't want you eaten by owls. As soon as the door was closed behind them, he let go of Potter's arm. Again Potter stopped and stared at the floor.

Draco _really_wanted that potion now.

It took a few minuets to force himself to move again, and he'd had to physically help Potter down most of the stairs.

They were half way down the long spiral stairs of the owlry when Potter pushed out of Draco grasp. "I'm not going to Pompy." He said slipping down a step and bracing himself against the railing.

"Um, yes you are." He said as though Potter didn't have a choice. If he wasn't going to walk there on his own then Draco would drag him all the way.

"No, I'm not." Potter said turning and limping down another step, one at a time.

A minuet passed as Potter limped his way down three whole stairs. Draco caught up with him quickly and waited patiently for the next step. "Stop being such a four year old. If-"

"Go around me!"

"If it gets infected-"

"I'll go get it cleaned up, but Pompey asks too many questions." Potter said angrily as Draco followed a step behind.

It was silent for a long time as Harry hobbled down a few more steps. "Are you going to tell them about his?" Draco asked.

"No, I'm not going to tell them, neither are you." He had only just realized now that Potter had sat with Lovegood… the other two probably had no idea.

"Right, then who-" they stepped out onto the bottom landing and Draco slammed into Potter who had stopped to look around the corner again.

Potter didn't seem fazed by the hit, but he shushed Draco all the same. "I think it's almost past curfew." Time sure does go fast when you're having fun.

Draco scoffed, "So what? Just tell them you're going to your dormitory." He thought Potter was used to being out late, and breaking the rules.

"Then they want to take you there." Harry said taking off at a quick pace down another flight of stairs leading down to the great hall. Draco didn't know why, but now he really wanted to know where Potter was going.

"Where are you going?"

Instead of answered he turned down another hall. Draco hesitated a second, but followed curious. Halfway down the hall Potter looked over his shoulder and stopped. "Why are you still following me?"

"You didn't tell me I couldn't." He looked down the hallway at the dead end.

He blinked a few times, seeming to think about it, turning red, and turning around to stumble down the rest of the hall. He touched the pear on the painting behind him.

"Mr. Potter. Hello!" Screamed one of the elves the second they had both entered. It was wearing sixty layers of cloths, literally, and looked horribly excited- like it was going to piss itself. It smiled looking over at him, but then screeched and ran to the other side of the room.

Draco lifted his eyebrow.

Potter shook his head in Draco's direction, "He remembers you." Was all he said before he walked the rest of the way and sat down next to another elf on the couch. "So," Draco heard him say to the elf as he followed and sat on another chair across from them, "Are you doing anything here?"

The house elf didn't answer, but another one, a girl slid onto the couch and said, "He is working harder then all of us Mr.Potter. He is a very hard worker." She said inching closer to Kreacher and setting her head on his shoulder. She was considerably smaller than him, and as house elves go, probably one of the more 'cuter' ones in the room.

What looked like it might be a smile rose on Kreachers face but he still didn't say anything. A second later the elf from before and another girl elf, Dobby and Winky, came forward. Dobby carrying a large tray of food and Winky a tray of first aid. She set the tray on the couch and crawled up on it, looking at the scrape on his chin. "What had Mr. Potter been doing sir?" she said grabbing a wet towel and slowly cleaning off the scrap. Draco had no idea that house elves knew how to do this kind of stuff.

Dobby set the tray on the other side of Potter and ran back to the other side of the room. "Uh, I don't wanna talk about it Wink." He said as she took out a cream and held it out for him to put on himself. He dabbed at the scrape and rubbed it in, biting his lip- as it stung there. Draco stood up and walked over to the tray grabbing it and bringing it over to where he was sitting. He didn't know what to eat first. Harry leaned forward so Winky could apply a bandage. "We remember that cream is for us house elves, but it worked just fine for Miss Granger." Winky said. He looked ridiculous when she was done, but it seemed to be doing the job.

Draco took another bite and looked up to find Potter looking at him. He swallowed and asked, "What?"

Once again he didn't answer, but he turned his head slightly and looked over Draco's shoulder at the other house-elf, who was running forward with a beer in his hand. He handed it to Potter who grabbed his shoulder and said, "Sit down with us Dobby."

Draco who still couldn't figure out where he'd heard that name said, "Hey, can I get one of those?" None of the house elves moved before Winky sighed and set off to get one. Draco was seriously confused. He'd never met such disobedient elves.

Harry took a sip of his drink, looking like he was enjoying the silence. He set his it on the table in front of him and pulled up one of his pant legs to inspect the hideous gashes covering almost the entire thing. That would explain the limping anyway. "Mr. Potter Sir." Said the girl elf from beside him on the couch, "I was wanting to wonder."

"Uh, yeah?" Harry said putting the huge glass to his lips and taking another drink. He pulled the pant leg back down.

"May I take Kreacher?" Harry spit out what was in his mouth all over the table in front of him.

"What?" He asked, turning read and looking a little confused himself. "What do you mean Leana?"

"Mr. Potter sir." Winky said walking around the couch Draco was on and handing him his drink. She walked up and took a seat on the table in front of Harry-where Potter had just spit out a mouth full. "Leana and Kreacher has been wanting to take each other for a long time sir. They wanted to since the end of last year."

"Um, okay…?" Harry said still not understanding completely. Just what exactly did 'taking' imply? Draco took a drink of his beer and felt it all the way down his throat. He sighed in contempt. He wasn't a drinker, but once in a while-usually during the summer when he was really board, he would drink a little.

Judging by the status of Potters glass however, he drank a bit more often then Draco.


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